Sexual dysfunction among males with opiate dependence undergoing methadone maintenance therapy (MMT)

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of sexual dysfunction and to investigate whether there is a change in sexual dysfunction after six months of methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) compared with baseline. Patients and Methods: We recruited 150 male Iranian patients from several centers offering methadone maintenance therapy (MMT). Patients underwent structured interview that consisted of socio-demographic characteristics, drug use, and sexual behavior, the patients completed the International Index of Erectile Function -15 (IIEF-15) and Sexual Self-efficacy Scale - Erectile Functioning (SSES-E) tests to assess sexual dysfunction. The statistical method used for analyzing data was the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Among men on MMT, 65 had erectile dysfunction (ED). The baseline mean score on the IIEF was 15.55 and, after taking methadone, that positively increased to 18.12 in the post-assessment. Analysis indicated significant improvement in erectile function, sexual desire, overall satisfaction, and orgasmic function after methadone maintenance treatment. Also, the baseline means score on the SSES-E was 86.71, which increased moderately to 94.34 in the post-assessment. Conclusions: Results showed that sexual dysfunction is a prevalent disorder in opioid-dependent males. Addiction withdrawal centers should be warned about the dysfunction caused by opioids and, from a clinical perspective, it is imperative that patients misusing opiates and those treated with methadone are routinely asked about their sexual functioning so that, if indicated, appropriate investigations and treatment can be planned. Further, the findings of this study revealed an improvement in some aspects of sexual dysfunction in patients after six months of methadone maintenance treatment. Thus, explaining to addicts that methadone causes fewer complications than using illegal drugs can help prevent premature exit from MMT. � 2016, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences

Seeking safety therapy for co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder: A case study in Iran

Background: Literature documents the high prevalence of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (OTSD) in individuals with substance use disorders, which complicate the clinical profile of patients and present challenges for treatment providers. Although several evidence-based integrated therapies are developed for comorbid PTSD/SUD (substance use disorder), there is a considerable gap addressing this co-occurrence and none of such practices are studied yet on such patients. Through A-B-A single subject design. Objectives: The current study aimed to explore the effectiveness of seeking safety (SS), an integrative evidence-based therapy for PTSD/SUD, to reduce PTSD and SUD symptoms in a 32-year-old female with both disorders. Patients and Methods: Measures of PTSD checklist (PTSD ChecklistCivilian; PCL-C), Addiction Severity Index (ASI), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS-21) were completed by the participant at baseline, intervention, and 2-month follow-up. Results: Results were analyzed through visual analysis and computing 3 effect size indices including standardized mean difference (SMD), mean baseline reduction (MBLR), and percent of non-overlapping data (PND). Conclusions: Clinically significant reductions in PTSD symptoms, psychological distress, and ASI scores, as well as improvement in coping skills were observed at intervention phase and maintained at 2-month follow-up, which indicated that the participant benefited from SS. © 2018, International Journal of High Risk Behaviors and Addiction

Effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy and cognitive therapy in patients with major depressive disorder

Background: Depression is one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders that imposes a heavy economic, emotional and social burden on patients, families and society. Objectives: The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive therapy (CT) in treating Iranian women patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Methods: Nineteen women outpatients meeting DSM-IV-TR criteria for MDD without any axis 2 disorders were randomly (goaloriented and convenience sampling) assigned to one of two treatment conditions, i.e. ACT and CT. The intervention in acceptance and commitment therapy group that was conducted was based on the Zeattle manual for major depressive disorder. Twelve therapeutic sessions were administered in the consulting center of Tehran university twice a week. The control group received 12 sessions of cognitive therapy based on Ferry manual twice a week in the consulting center of Tehran university, too. The Beck depression inventory-II-second edition (BDI-II), acceptance and act questionnaire (AAQ-II) and dysfunctional attitude scale (DAS) were administered for pre-treatment, post-treatment and follow-up. The data was analyzed by repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: ANCOVA results showed that there were significant differences between ACT and CT in dysfunctional attitude. The ACT group demonstrated significant improvement in acceptance in the pre-test and post-test stage. All the participants demonstrated significant improvement in depression. Conclusions: As ACT improved depression and acceptance of internal experiences, it is recommended for depression as an effective psychotherapy. © 2017, Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Comparing the effectiveness of paroxetine, attention modification program and combination of both on improving social anxiety symptoms

Introduction: Although the effectiveness of paroxetine and Attention Modification Program has been studied separately in treating social anxiety disorder, there has been no research comparing them according to the literature. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of paroxetine, Attention Modification Program (AMP) and combination of both on improving the Social Anxiety Symptoms. Methods: 33 patients meeting DSM-IV-TR criteria for social anxiety disorder were randomly assigned in 3 groups: 11 in paroxetine group, 11 in AMP group and 11 in combined group. Treatment intervention was done during 8 weeks period. Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) were administered before and after treatment intervention. One-way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to determine the differences and efficacy of treatment interventions between groups. Data analysis was done by SPSS-16 software. Results: 28 participants completed the treatment period. One-way ANCOVA results showed statistically significant differences in post-treatment scores of social phobia (p=0/007), depressive symptoms (p=0.007) and daily life functioning (p=0.011) between three groups. Bonferroni correction showed that combined treatment is significantly more effective than AMP in reducing social phobia symptoms (p=0.007), depressive symptoms (p=0.022) and enhancing daily life functioning (0.019). Yet, there were no significant differences between Paroxetine and combined treatment in all post-treatment scores (p=0.890, p=1.000, p=1.000 for social phobia, depressive symptoms and daily life functioning respectively). Paroxetine showed more significant improvement of depressive symptoms (p=0.016) and enhancing daily life functioning (p=0.045) than AMP. Also, there were no significant differences between paroxetine and AMP in reducing social anxiety symptoms. Discussion: It seems that paroxetine has wider effect in reducing social anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms and enhancing daily life functioning than AMP and adding the AMP to paroxetine does not make significant changes than medicating with paroxetine alone

Responsibility attitude in a sample of Iranian obsessive-compulsive patients

Background: The study of distorted beliefs about responsibility attitude and interpretation has become the central theme in Salkovskis' (1985) and Rachman and Hodgson's (1980) models of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Aims: The aim of this research is to assess the responsibility attitude in Iranian OCD patients. Methods: Twenty OCD patients were selected through available sampling from the case referred to psychology clinics. Two other patient groups comprised of 20 non-OCD anxiety disorder patients and 20 non-clinical participants were also chosen as comparison groups. All participants completed the Responsibility Attitude Scale (RAS) and Responsibility Interpretation Questionnaire (RIQ). Results: Analyses revealed statistically significant differences between OCD group and comparison groups on both RAS and RIQ. In addition, both RAS and RIQ scores were associated with the severity of OCD assessed by the Yale-Brown scale. Conclusions: These findings suggest that responsibility attitude and interpretations are the prominent features of OCD in Iranian patients and are associated with the severity of illness. Copyright © 2005 Sage Publications

Effectiveness of a visual attention training program on the reduction of ADHD symptoms in preschool children at risk for ADHD in Isfahan: A pilot study

Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms are difficult to treat. As ADHD is naturally a disorder of attention and related executive functions, attention training (ATT) has been considered as a treatment for the disorder. Although there are few studies investigating the utility of ATT in the ADHD population, published studies provide support for ATT in reducing the symptoms of ADHD. Objectives: The aim of the current study was to examine the effects of training attention on ADHD symptoms in a group of preschool-aged children at risk for ADHD disorder. Methods: In this study, a group of 5-year-old children (n = 30) with ADHD symptoms were assigned randomly to either a traininggroup who participated in 11 sessions of visual attention training based on Pay Attention Program or a non-trained control group. Both versions of Child symptom inventory-4 (CSI-4) were employed to assess ADHD symptoms based on parent and teacher's rating. Also the accuracy and the continuous performance of children were examined with Tolouse-Pierron test. The Assessment was performed in three phases: (1) before, (2) after, and (3) one month after the termination of training. Results: Results of the multivariate analysis of the covariance demonstrate that there was a significant difference (P < 0.05) in the decline of attention deficit symptoms between two groups based on teacher's rating at post-test. In addition, there was a significant decrease (P < 0.05) on the scores of omission error of Toulose- Pieron test at post-test and follow up for the training group. There was no significant reduction in hyperactivity symptoms in two groups. Conclusions: It seems that the performance of children's attention with ADHD improves by visual attention training. © 2017, Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Psychometric properties of the Persian version of the weight-related experiential avoidance (AAQW): overweight and obese treatment seeker at the clinical setting

Background: The present study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the weight-related experiential avoidance (AAQW) in overweight and obese treatment seeker in the clinical setting. Methods: This sample consists of 220 male and female overweight or obesity treatment seeker from Overweight and obesity centers who agreed to fill out the self-reported measures. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported 3-factor structures of AAQW, including (weight as a barrier to living, Food as Control, and weight-stigma). Furthermore, the internal consistency of AAQW indicates an acceptable range (α =.70); Also, expected associations between AAQW and external correlates (e.g., BES, AAQ-II, KIMS, BDI-II, and CFQ) supported the measure�s convergent validity in a sample of overweight and obese treatment seeker in the clinical setting. Conclusions: Overall, our study offers that the Persian version of weight-related experiential avoidance has psychometrically valid and reliable tools to assess experiential avoidance. Furthermore, weight-related experiential avoidance is associated with higher severity of binge eating symptoms, higher psychological inflexibility levels, experiential avoidance, and more cognitive fusion and depression symptomology. © 2021, The Author(s)

Validity and reliability of the dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep scale-10 in iranian clinical population

Background: Dysfunctional cognitions and attitudes about sleep are considered as one of the most important factors underlying insomnia. Objectives: The current study aimed at investigating the validity and reliability of the dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep scale-10 (DBAS-10) in an Iranian clinical population. Methods: The clinical sample consisted of 120 patients with insomnia disorder referred to the sleep disorders clinic at Baharloo hospital in Tehran in 2015. The control group (n = 120) included a community sample volunteered to participate in the study. Sleep Diary, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Insomnia Severity Index, Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale, and Depression, Anxiety, Stress Sacle-21, were used to assess concurrent validity. Test-retest and Cronbach' alpha were conducted to examine the reliability of the scale. Construct validity of the scale was investigated via confirmatory factor analysis. Results: The current study findings indicated that DBAS-10 had appropriate test-retest reliability (r = 0.83) and internal consistency (Cronbach' alpha = 0.82). Total score of DBAS-10 was significantly associated with PSQI (r = 0.34), ISI (r = 0.45), the cognitive subscale of PSAS (r = 0.36), and depression (0.34), anxiety (r = 0.34) and stress (r = 0.39) subscales of DASS-21. Factor analysis indicated that the Espie et al. (2000) model had significantly better fitness in comparison with the Edinger andWohlgemuth (2001) model. The cutoff point, sensitivity, and specificity of the scale were 6.7, 74.17 and 87.50, respectively. Conclusions: The Persian version of DBAS-10 had proper psychometric properties for Iranian clinical population. ©2018, Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Developing the Persian version of positive and negative affect scale for children (Original and short form) and assessing its psychometric properties

Objectives This study aimed to develop and validate the Persian version of original and short forms of Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children (PANAS-C) and evaluates its psychometric properties. Methods The is a cross-sectional study conducted on male and female students of public elementary and secondary schools in Tehran, Iran in the academic year 2017-2018. The samples were 412 students (56.8 female) selected using cluster sampling method. The data collection tools included PANAS-C,Emotion Regulation Questionnaire For Children And Adolescents (ERQ-CA), Children�s Depression Inventory (CDI) and Spence Children�s Anxiety Scale (SCAS). Data analysis were performed in SPSS v.20 using descriptive and inferential statistics (exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach�s alpha and Pearson correlation test). Results The factor analysis revealed that the two factors (Positive and Negative Affect) for original and short forms of PANAS-C. Cronbach�s alpha for the total items of original and short forms were 0.85 and 0.81, respectively Moreover, the correlation of positive and negative affects with reappraisal and suppression strategies, anxiety disorders (except obsessive-compulsive) and depression was significant (P=0.01, and 005). Conclusion The Persian version of both original and short forms of PANAS-C had good psychometric properties and it can be used for research and evaluation of positive and negative affect in Iranian children and adolescents. © 2020, Iran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Narcissism and the Strategic Pursuit of Short-Term Mating: Universal Links across 11 World Regions of the International Sexuality Description Project-2

Previous studies have documented links between sub-clinical narcissism and the active pursuit of short-term mating strategies (e.g., unrestricted sociosexuality, marital infidelity, mate poaching). Nearly all of these investigations have relied solely on samples from Western cultures. In the current study, responses from a cross-cultural survey of 30,470 people across 53 nations spanning 11 world regions (North America, Central/South America, Northern Europe, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania, Southeast Asia, and East Asia) were used to evaluate whether narcissism (as measured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory; NPI) was universally associated with short-term mating. Results revealed narcissism scores (including two broad factors and seven traditional facets as measured by the NPI) were functionally equivalent across cultures, reliably associating with key sexual outcomes (e.g., more active pursuit of short-term mating, intimate partner violence, and sexual aggression) and sex-related personality traits (e.g., higher extraversion and openness to experience). Whereas some features of personality (e.g., subjective well-being) were universally associated with socially adaptive facets of Narcissism (e.g., self-sufficiency), most indicators of short-term mating (e.g., unrestricted sociosexuality and marital infidelity) were universally associated with the socially maladaptive facets of narcissism (e.g., exploitativeness). Discussion addresses limitations of these cross-culturally universal findings and presents suggestions for future research into revealing the precise psychological features of narcissism that facilitate the strategic pursuit of short-term mating